Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
GhostStreamer
It’s a sober, melancholic, mature and fairly restrained series, with serious dialogue, murders, conspiracies, and the atmosphere of a European thriller. It doesn’t overdo the comedy or fan service (thank God); in fact, those two elements are practically nonexistent.
The main difference between it and other anime in the same genre is the pacing. Noir is slow, atmospheric, and episodic. For much of the first few episodes, the protagonists take on assassination jobs that work as standalone stories, while the central mystery gradually unfolds.
It also uses 2001-era animation (which is pretty rough, especially during the action scenes) and repeats some scenes several times, which can get tedious. There’s plenty of action, but don’t expect blood or gore—the anime is pretty subtle in that respe…
Read at the sourceTheColonel
Noir sits in an interesting place within its director's oeuvre. In somewhat of a self contradiction, it's one of Mashimo's shows most focused towards action, but it often plays that action in a somber, mellow and moody tone. There are big gunfights and knife battles, but they're rarely as exciting as they are disquieting. Death is as casual as it is effectively horrifying and sad, but never in an overbearing way. More in how the visual framing trades the typical focus on high-energy excitement for an odd sense of empty quiet, a resounding hollowness to each and every death, given textual meaning by the villain's fixation on grooming the rebirth of a legend of death in sight of a truer meaning to the simple loss of life itself.
The story lacks much of a solid foundation, instead focusing o…
Read at the sourceNox---
So... I hadn't rated something 10 out of 10 since around 2018 i think. I hesitated. This anime is not perfect. But some aspects of it set a completely new standard of expectations for me... And those were already pretty high in my book. I had noticed this anime a long time ago, but i generally can't handle the drama genre, as this tends to depress me way too much for my own sake. Still, i could handle this one, in the end (just barely). And it was one hell of a journey i don't regret endeavouring. This will probably be a bit long, but please, bear with me.
Oh, first, i will list the things i felt were lacking in there. That will get it out of the way.
1- First, a rant. Don't set this shit in France if you can't even write a single french word properly. It is irritating (like when even so…
Read at the sourceDompa112
Decided to watch this as it was recommended if one enjoyed Phantom Requiem. Same studio, lots of the same people behind it and same genre. And it did not dissapoint. Equally as good as Phantom for me. Cant decide one or the other. Lots of similaritys. Maybe at times to much of the same but enjoyable nontheless.
Lets get the best out of the way right of. Kajiura. The anime goddess. Never dissapoints. You watch an anime where she makes the music you are in for a treat.
Second place would be the art and locations which i really enjoyed. They really nailed it with art design for all differect countries and locations. Especially Europe.
Story was also interesting. Maybe a bit long as it slows down at times where the plot feels like it goes nowhere but at the same time with its music, atmos…
Read at the sourceLionasad
Note: I am writing this review several months after completing the show.
[i]Noir[/i] is a difficult anime to review, much less discuss. It appears to have had a small budget, been released into obscurity, and hardly remembered in the 22 years since it started airing. The title makes it somewhat difficult to research as well, since searches tend to return results related to Chat Noir for some reason. In fact, I consider myself rather blessed that I happened onto the show at all.
To cut to the chase, yes, I recommend this show. It's fun, intelligent, and soulful. It has a number of flaws that I'll get to, but what a prospective viewer should really consider is that this show is [i]dated[/i]. I don't know much about anime, but from what I've seen, I get the general sense that action anime r…
Read at the sourceDykeViews
This show stands out in it's field. There are no male recurring characters and no sexualization of minors. If you're looking for femme-led shows, that should be enough for you to start watching. Before you do, you should know that this series can't be binge-watched. It's from an older time, and matches the noir atmosphere to the format. Each show has extended, minimalist flashbacks to the previous episode that are tedious if you just watched it 7 minutes ago, instead of the intended 7 days ago. Towards the end of the series you'll probably feel the urge to binge, but if you can resist it's great.
The premise is a pair of female assassins taking jobs and digging through a criminal underworld for clues to each of their pasts that seem to be intertwined. One protagonist suffers amnesia and p…
Read at the sourceJoe_Devaney
Overview:
"Noir" is the first of a trio of action anime created by studio Bee Train. Known together as the "Girls with Guns" trilogy, these well-liked but obscure anime series helped to popularize the genre of the same name. Out of the three, "Noir" has aged considerably poorly in comparison to its younger sisters, with most of the things that set it apart being either superficial or just plain outdated. The good news is, however, is that "Noir" does succeed in more traditional ways, with a complex, if confusing story, good action scenes and great music, all of which combine to make an entertaining, if not exactly memorable start to the trilogy.
Story (7.5/10):
Much like all the "Girls with Guns" anime, the story centres around two very different girls. In this case, those girls are a pa…
Read at the sourceCaroline_Hamel
"Noir. It is the name of an ancient fate. Two maidens who govern death. The peace of the newly-born, their black hands protect."
Noir is the first in studio Beetrain's "Girls with Guns Trilogy," a tragedy and thriller, with a slow pace and a focus on a small cast of characters. It's an emotional, exhilarating series with an underlying sadness and an amazing dynamic between its main pair.
Mireille is a professional assassin, taking up the mythical name of Noir for a job and promptly receiving a message and sequential meeting from Kirika, who asks her to take a Pilgrimage together to discover their respective pasts. Kirika is a girl suffering from amnesia, upset with and trying to understand her ability to kill and her lack of perceived feeling in doing so with ease. Mireille joins her to…
Read at the sourcepaintpixie
This is a pretty decent anime.
One of the more notable things about it is that, although there are many action scenes, there is very little blood. Whether that bothers you because it makes it seem fake, or if that relieves you because you dislike blood, there you have it. Cleanest action scenes I've ever seen.
The story is pretty good. It held my interest. And the few side stories that were introduced were interesting and touching in their own ways as well.
The art is alright. The backgrounds were really nice. And the music was a little better than I expected it to be.
I've seen this anime both subtitled and dubbed. I prefer it dubbed. The dub is actually pretty decent, so if you want to watch something where you don't have to read along as you're watching, this is a good choice for th…
Read at the sourcemellsrx
"NOIR...It is the name of an ancient fate, two maidens govern death. The peace of the newly born, their black hands protect."
Keep in mind, this is a bit of an amateur review since I am one of those, "I can't seem to hate any anime!" types of people! I used to watch many animes after animes but I stopped because I had better things to do I supposed!
Watching Noir on Funimation just light a spark in me! The soundtrack, the storyline, and all the dramatic things that happened within the plot, it's just incredibly amazing. One thing I especially love about this anime is the relationship between Mireille Bouquet and Kirika Yuumura, they are the perfect definition of partners in crime, but not only that, I love how they both care for each other. AH~! I love them so much <3
Also, the opening…
Read at the sourceDennis_King
It's been too long since i last saw Noir and for some reason my taint was itching to have a go at it for a 2nd time after 19 years and if i'm honest i shouldn't have made this fatal mistake cause what i watched with my innocent eyes and rose tinted galsses back then....Let's find out, shall we?
Noir, for starters, is part of a trilogy of animes themed as Girls with Dild.....Oh it's not that kind of deadly device...Girls with frying pans then? No not that either..Oh yes of course, silly me. It's Girls with Guns (and Roses)..And as was the case with band this anime is also overrated. Sure the members look cool and smoke and have flashbacks from drug use and managed to get a hit or two here and there but the deeper workings are quite a different story...And if that story was interesting or e…
Read at the sourceSCLFI
If I had to describe Noir with one word, it would be unremarkable - not very good, but not very bad either. While action series are typically lighter than other genres when it comes to story/characters, that absence was certainly more pronounced herein than I would typically expect, in turn making it feel somewhat empty. Normally it wouldn’t be an issue, but the action’s not particularly well orchestrated, which is the main point of an action series, so without either it ends up feeling rather weak.
Noir, which despite its title, is in full colour, is about a pair of female assassins, Mireille and Kirika, who after encountering each other, engage in assassinations (don’t know what else you were expecting from them), and try and find out more about their past, as Kirika is amnesiac, and a…
Read at the sourceHikari-Kuro
Noir is a serious insult to all assassin anime series out there.
The two main characters, Mireille and Kirika are two human assassins who possesses god like ability that go against Murphy’s law of probability and the laws of physics.
Let me explain the reason i came to this conclusion.
Reason of going against Murphy’s law of probability.
Almost every episode shows Mireille and Kirika killing off random henchmen in one shot while avoiding any bullets by random henchmen even in close range.
These random henchmen will even wait to be killed. When you are assigned to kill well known assassins, you don’t wait for the assassins to pick up weapon to finish you off or hide around until being noticed by the assassins to be killed. Mireille and Kirika are able to dodge every single bullets fired…
Read at the sourceKarlimeroman
while neither the story, nor the animation are anything to write home about, the soundtrack is excellent and the background art for anything that is not supposed to be animated is, while often overlooked, absolutely fantastic. landscapes, buildings and furniture always looks gorgeous, surfaces without texture and copy-pasted elements are the exception rather than the norm, which makes nearly every background shot worthy of being framed and put on display.
sadly the great quality of the background art makes the less than stellar animation all the more jarring as the stark contrast between elements that are animated, and ones that are not, are impossible not to notice.
Read at the sourceFall
I enjoyed Noir. Enough to watch it three times, even. When I first saw Noir, my first thought was not "oh, so it's Trigun but darker and more violent." But, after seeing Trigun, this is the inevitable conclusion I have to draw.
Two badasses, one wearing weird clothing (a bright red jacket with more buttons than an elevator operating on 50 floors, and a school uniform), one wearing mildly appropriate clothing, who are good at shooting things stumble upon each other and end up working together to foil the big bad secret agency. The first half is made up of a bunch of episodic episodes that are tangentially or completely unrelated to the overarching plot, and are generally the better part of the series. The main character is a complete engima with choice pieces of information revealed over…
Read at the sourceilluminatibg
"Grant us peace and save us from the enemies. Save us, God"
Story: 7
There is nothing screaming more loudly "thriller" than a series about professional assassins. But do not imagine a mindless action and long monologues. The mystery is built on down to the ground action, with no supernatural elements. However, there are few quite impossible outcomes of the situation. The tropes used (amnesia, unfinished sentences, looking at the eyes) can sometimes become boring and for a gun series it moves unusually slow. But once, you get into the story, you can really enjoy it, exactly because those tropes. The story stays open for the most episodes, but in a way that enhances the mystery without losing the linearity provided by the action. Understanding the mystery requires thinking and the the pause…
Read at the sourceDainBramaged
A great episodic show that runs into some absurd plot points and leaves a bad taste in the mouth, with an ending that feels like it came from the wrong show.
Overall, I highly recommend watching the first episode. It's cool, it's stylish, the soundtrack rocks, and it's one of my favorite episodes in anime so far. After that, proceed at your own risk.
I'm keeping this spoiler free, so unfortunately I can't tell you what I had serious problems with. At the time I'm writing this, Noir has a 7.38 which isn't bad, but isn't great either. If I had to sum up my feelings about this show in one word, it would be "eh."
**STORY**
The story is mostly great in the first part. "Moe Jason Bourne" Kirika and "international assassin and woman of mystery" Mireille take on assassination jobs while avoidin…
Read at the sourceAnimeTopScholar
Noir is an original anime that was produced by studio Bee Train. It aired from Apr 6 2001 and Sep 28 2001 and is 25 episodes in total. It was directed by Koichi Mashimo (Ai City) and falls into the Girls With Guns sub-genre, which is concidered a different kind of moe. Koichi would later go on to direct two more anime called Madlax and El Cazador de la Bruja which are concidered spiritual successors to Noir even though they are not related story wise.
Noir is the name of an ancient assassin, and just the mention of that name is enough to strike fear in the hearts of anyone. Now that code name belongs to two assassin girls named Mireille Bouquet and Kirika Yuumura. They are now going around accepting assassination jobs. However, a certain powerful organization named Soldats is hiding in th…
Read at the sourceDarkRavie
The series follows the story of two young female assassins, the Corsican Mireille Bouquet and the Japanese amnesiac Yuumura Kirika, who embark together on a personal journey to seek answers about mysteries concerning their past. At first, they seem to be only vaguely related to each other, but there are clues and hints given throughout the series that there is more going on behind the scenes than at first glance.
My thoughts:
Although some may enjoy this anime I personally found it to be the most boring anime I've ever seen. I guess it's a little too dark for me. There's no comic relief to cut through the seriousness, the music itself almost put me to sleep. The animation side is good and the sound is good but that's about it. There's very little real action that keeps you on the edge of…
Read at the sourceKokosnuss_Palme
This special snowflake disappoints. Let us take a closer look why.
# In the interrogation room: Noir #
# # # PRO # # #
# Bob Ross like backgrounds
# Strong OST
# OP was like a female japanese version of james bond, thus pretty stylish # Ending was decent
# # # CON # # #
# Weird gunbattles (enemies braindead, unauthentic, unspectacular for the most part)
# Very „dark“ themend anime with lots of kills, lots of gunbattles, but no blood...
# Weak characters
# Constant flashbacks that kill the enjoyment fast
# Overuse of OST till it becomes annoying
# Overall bleak
Conclusion:
This anime is really bad and that in multiple ways.
Let´s start with good things first: The OST is very good. I like the OP, it feels like a japanese, female version of a James Bond movie and is very catchy (su…
Read at the source
